1
Imperialism: “The White
Man's Burden”
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
� Born in Bombay, India
� Lived in England, India, United States
� Traveled around the world
� 1907 – became first Englishman to win Nobel Prize for Literature
� Jungle Book (1894)
� Just So Stories (1902)
“The White Man's Burden”
� McClure’s Magazine, February 1899
� Addressed to the United States
� End of Spanish-American War
� Annexation of the Philippines
2
Take up the White Man's burden -Send forth the best ye breed -Go bind your sons to exileTo serve your captives' need;To wait in heavy harnessOn fluttered folk and wild -Your new-caught sullen peoples,Half devil and half child.
Take up the White Man's burden -In patience to abideTo veil the threat of terrorAnd check the show of pride;By open speech and simple,An hundred times made plain,To seek another's profit,And work another's gain.
3
Take up the White Man's burden -The savage wars of peace -Fill full the mouth of famineAnd bid the sickness cease;And when your goal is nearestThe end for others sought,Watch Sloth and heathen FollyBring all your hopes to naught.
Take up the White Man's burden -No tawdry rule of kings,But toil of serf and sweeper -The tale of common things.The ports ye shall not enter,The roads ye shall not tread,Go make them with your living,And mark them with your dead!
4
Take up the White Man's burden -And reap his old reward,The blame of those ye better,The hate of those ye guard -The cry of hosts ye humour(Ah slowly !) towards the light:-"Why brought ye us from bondage,Our loved Egyptian night?"
White Man's Burden and Imperialist ideology:
1. White Man brings learning,
medicine, technology and
culture
2. Natives are less evolved,
need to be taught and
governed
3. Altruism: White Man does
all this hard work for the
natives' good
5
Top Related